Now or Never
by Calandraa
Summary: Janine has been waiting a long time for Egon to do this. But his timing is horrible! Based on the IDW-Comics "Ghostbusters". Minor Spoilers for ongoing series 2. Takes place after "Get Real" and "Annual 2015" but before "Ghostbusters International"
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: A while ago I had the idea of writing fanfiction. "Why not?" I thought and got the answer pretty soon: Being able to communicate in a language that is not your first language is NOT the same as writing a story in a foreign language. Duh! ;) So do not hesitate to tell me if you find mistakes (grammar or spelling).

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Egon made his way up the stairs to the upper floor of the firehouse. Deep in thought about a ghost they encountered which he could not classify, he ran into Winston who headed to the ground floor.

"Whoa! Sorry, Egon!" Winston said. "I was in a hurry. Drama-time up there – you don't want to be there either."

Without given Egon a chance to reply or ask further questions, the tall dark-skinned man jumped down the stairs. Adjusting his glasses which were misplaced because of the collision Egon wondered what this was about. Continuing his way up he heard voices from the kitchen. One was the unmistakable Brooklyn-approved sound of Janine Melnitz. The other was familiar, too, but in a less pleasant way. Clenching his fist in the pocket of his lab coat he recognized Roger Baugh the former (or so he had thought) boyfriend of Janine.

Neither of them saw him. Janine was staring out of the window, while Roger looked at her.

"Janine, please!" The English Professor said in a pleading voice. "I miss you!"

"You were the one who left." She reminded him.

"Yes, I was hurt and I overreacted. I shouldn't have put that much pressure on you. Asking you to leave your home, your friends, your job and giving almost no time to think it through… I was wrong to do that!"

"You're damn right!" Janine snarled at him, still not facing him.

"Twinkle, please!" Roger put a hand on her shoulder. "For you I will come back. Let's start again!"

Egon froze in his place. He had thought that the intruding philologist would be of no concern anymore – and there he was again, messing up Egon's well-planned strategy. He knew he had to apologize to Janine for his behavior in the last few months, for things he said and things he didn't say. He had spent the last weeks to carefully considering the right words to do that before telling her how much she meant to him.

But now Egon was forced to think and act fast. Trying to win Janine's affection back would not be easy anyway and it would be even harder if Professor Baugh would succeed in re-establishing his romantic relationship with her. The "Brains of the Ghostbusters" was forced to improvise which he was quite good at - in the field, fighting Class Fours which turn out to be Class Sixes or facing an entity alone because Venkman got lost somewhere on the stairs. But when it came to emotions he struggled even _with_ planning.

"What do you say, Twinkle?" Baugh said in a tender voice. "Give me a chance!"

Before Janine could answer, Egon clamorously cleared his throat. Janine and Roger turned around to face him but looking surprised.

"Egon? You startled me!" Janine breathed.

"Excuse us, Dr. Spengler!" Roger demanded coldly. "But Twin… Miss Melnitz and myself have a private matter to discuss."

"I am quite aware of this, Professor!" Egon nodded respectfully. "But I think before Janine considers your offer to revive the relationship with you, it just makes sense to let her know that I am offering the same to her."

"What?" Janine and Roger said at the same time.

"Janine", Egon said. "I didn't plan this – I wanted to take my time. To find the right words to tell you how much I care for you and to ask your forgiveness for the distance I kept lately. I just did not expect Professor Baugh to return."

"Oh, I am so sorry!" Roger interrupted.

"No need to apologize!" Egon said - ignoring his rival's sarcasm. "But as a matter of fact your re-appearance made it necessary to state my feelings now."

"You are really serious!" Roger realized and stepped closer to Egon. "After you rejected her for years, you want to take her from a man who really cares about her."

"I did not reject her – I simply did not react to her advances!"

"You don't really think this is better, do you?"

"Look, I understand that you are upset and I am sorry to interfere in this very moment, but…"

"Oh, you should be!" Menacingly Roger closed the gap between Egon and himself leaving his face but inches from the scientist's. "I want to fix things between me and Janine and that is exactly the moment you feel the urge to confess your love for her!"

Egon did not step back even though the other man seemed not unwilling to take the argument to a physical level. The Ghostbuster tried to reason with his rival: "To wait until Janine made her decision would have caused much more chaos and unpleasant emotions."

"No, it would not!" Roger claimed. "Because she will decide for me, so you declaring your love will make no difference!"

"You sound certain!"

"I am!"

"Alright!" Egon raised his hands carefully as a sign of peace. "I think we can both agree that this is not our decision, can't we?"

"Right!" Roger nodded.

Both men turned to face Janine. But the secretary was not standing at the window anymore. Searching the kitchen the men noticed she was nowhere to be seen. Egon stuck his head through the door that lead to the old sleeping quarters just to see strains of flying red hair disappearing in the opening of the firepole.

"Twinkle?" Suddenly Baugh had appeared right behind Egon and obviously had witnessed the same because he headed for the stairs.

Egon himself ran to the pole and slid down. On his way down he shouted: "Janine, this is infantile!"

After he arrived in the main hall he looked around but the only person present was Venkman sitting on Janine's chair with his feet on her desk, looking up from a newspaper. Soon footsteps were heard from the stairs and Roger entered the ground floor as well.

"Gentlemen?" Peter raised an eyebrow. "Seen a ghost?"

"Not now, Venkman!" Egon was not in the mood for jokes. "Where is Janine?"

"She just stormed out, uttering something about 'lunchtime'!" The psychologist answered. "And boy, she must have been hungry – stormed out like the devil was behind her. In those heels! Frankly, I'm impressed!"

"I will find her!" Roger ran towards the exit.

"I do not think she wants to be f…" Egon called after him but it was too late. The English Professor had already left the building in search for Janine.

The scientist turned around meeting Peter's curious eyes but he chose to ignore the unspoken question.

"I will be in the laboratory!" He informed his colleague matter-of-factly. "Should Janine return, please ask her to see me!"

"Okay, Spengs!"

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Peter waited for the lab door to close. Then he turned away from his newspaper and looked under the desk he had placed his feet on. The pretty redhead beneath it gazed back at him, her green eyes full of embarrassment.

"Care to explain, Miss Melnitz?" Peter asked with a big grin causing Janine to sigh in desperation.


	2. Chapter 2

After Peter had seen Roger getting into a cab he took Janine to a nice coffee shop only a few steps away from the firehouse. They sat down near the big window watching the cars and the people pass by. Janine told her boss what had happened in the kitchen that had made her run off like that.

"So they got into a fight and you took advantage of that, sneaked out of the kitchen and escaped via firepole?" Peter repeated as he had down several times before.

"We have been through this like a thousand times, haven't we?" Janine asked annoyed.

"Oh, we have, but it is so funny…"

Janine painfully interrupted him by pinching his arm.

"Ouch, alright, alright." He said. "But you have to admit this was not the most mature reaction!"

"I know!" She admitted, close to tears. "I panicked."

She suddenly seemed so fragile that Peter immediately lost interest in teasing her. He put a protective arm around her.

"It's okay, I'm sorry!" He tried to sound comforting when he added: "It wasn't fair of them to jump on you like that – metaphorically speaking."

"They both didn't mean to." Janine tried to defend the two men who had fought for her. "Roger just wanted me back and Egon then felt the need to confess his feelings as well. This probably was not easy for him."

"No kidding!" Peter smiled but then he became serious again: "What would you have told Roger if Egon would not have shown up?"

"I… I don't know…"

"I see. And if Egon would have been the first one to tell you how he felt without Roger being around?"

"I don't know either!" She admitted.

"Hm…"

Biting his lip Peter thought about the situation. This was not easy for him as well. He didn't care much about Roger. The professor was a nice guy and he really seemed to love Janine but Peter never got to know him. Egon on the other hand was one of his oldest and best friends but Janine was a friend, too. Could he – with safe consciousness – suggest her to decide in favor of Egon? Of course, Egon loved Janine, Peter knew that – hell, everybody knew that. But he did not treat her the way she deserved to be treated. Before their encounter with Gozer, Egon had – in his own way – encouraged Janine to deepen their relationship. But all of a sudden, no one knowing the trigger, he had started to push her away – right into the arms of Louis Tully. Oh Lord, Tully! If that guy was the other choice, giving advice would be easy.

"What should I do?" Janine's pleading words interrupted his thoughts. She looked at him, full of trust, hoping for him to help her.

"You know, Janine…" He began with hesitation. "My Grandma used to tell my mother 'If you can't choose between two men, probably none of them is the right man for you'…"

For a moment the redheaded woman sitting across the table went silent. Then she nodded, thinking about his words: "This makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, it's true – if one of them _was_ the right person, the decision wouldn't be hard at all, right?"

"Perhaps..." Peter felt like betraying Egon for possibly driving the woman he loved away from him. But it was Janine asking for help. Finally he said: "You know what – take the rest of the day off. Clear your head, do something fun and who knows? Tomorrow things may look better already."

"Yeah, maybe!" She smiled but her eyes were sad.

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Staring at his board Egon cursed his stupid emotions. Since the encounter with Baugh and Janine he could not focus on anything. Whenever he started to think of one of his current projects his thoughts would wander to Janine's beautiful emerald eyes that once had used to look at him so full of tenderness. But lately most of the time they were filled with concern, disappointment or even anger whenever they saw him. He recalled her sliding down the fire pole to escape his verbal surprise-attack. After that he had not seen her yesterday and now, standing on the roof, he probably would not see her as well. Should he look for her? Talk to her? Apologize? Or insist to get an answer?

"Egon?" A familiar voice raised behind him.

Startled he whisked around staring at Janine's face.

"Sorry", she said almost shy – very untypical for the snarky secretary he knew. "I didn't mean to scare you!"

"I am a Ghostbuster – I have seen scarier things than a redheaded receptionist." He dead-panned, hoping she would find that amusing not insulting.

To his relieve she gave him a light smile.

"Good!" She said and after pausing for a short moment she said: "About yesterday… I am sorry that I ran off like a scared cat. You were right: That was infantile!"

"I understand. That was a lot to take in."

She nodded. Then they both ran out of words and looked to the ground.

 _What now, Spengler?_ He asked himself. _Stay on topic or start smalltalk. Just do something!_

"Um, where is Professor Baugh?" Although he knew that this was a very risky question he just had to know.

"On a plane to San Francisco, I believe." Janine looked up to meet his gaze. "I had to reject him – it wouldn't have worked out."

Egon swallowed hard. What did that mean for him? Did it mean anything at all?

"You know", Janine said. "A friend told me what his grandmother used to say: 'If you can't choose between two men, probably none of them is the right men for you'…"

He tried hard not to make his expression betray his emotions – but he failed and his face fell just as his heart sank.

Trying to keep his countenance he cleared his throat and answered: "I understand…"

"I don't think so…" She shook her head in disagreement. "You know, I thought about this. And even though Roger is a wonderful man, it is absolutely possible that he is not the right man for me."

She paused and stepped closer to Egon who involuntary held his breath. Carefully she touched his cheek with her right hand before she continued: "But there is no way in heaven or hell that _you_ are not the right man for me."

I took a moment before the words sank in and Egon realized what she was saying. Staring into her face he knew that she was expecting a reaction of some sort but he was unable to say anything appropriate - or inappropriate, since in this very moment he forgot all the words he had ever known.

"Egon?" Insecurity was in her voice and in her facial expression when he did not answer.

Egon noticed that she was about to step away from him. Since he could not let that happen again, he grabbed her shoulders, pulled her towards his body and gently placed his lips on hers. At first she stiffened in surprise but soon leaned into the kiss wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Well, yes, Miss Melnitz!" Egon finally said as they broke the kiss, somehow managing not to grin. "I have to get back to work now. Would you be interested in having dinner with me later?"

"Of course, Dr. Spengler!" Janine stated in her business voice. "You know where to find me."

She left and he smiled to himself: "Yes, I do!"

End

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„Ghostbusters" ©1984 Columbia Pictures, „Ghostbusters by IDW" ©2008 Sony/IDW

Thanks to Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis for creating the great movie and the fantastic universe of "Ghostbusters" and thanks to IDW for keeping it alive until today!


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